Am I ready? (No. But should I try anyway?)

I am not able to give many advices, just wanted to link this as a simple guide to web design that may be able to help you a bit: https://jgthms.com/web-design-in-4-minutes/

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@Gilbert1391 I agree with you completely!

@leahleen Thank you for that link, that website is pretty cool I didn’t expect it to finish like that since it started really sketchy. :joy:

I’m bookmarking and taking notes on this whole post because of all the great comments. Thank you everyone for this, esp the guy on the chopping block! :smile: I’m about to start my portfolio project and before I start any projects, I always scroll through here to get inspiration and to read posts like this. So really, thanks you guys

@pleeseno No problem, I’m glad I can help someone learn through my execution😵. Also good luck with your portfolio page, if I were to give you advice it would be. Don’t get discouraged if it becomes really hard, and people cough @Ascii cough criticize your (best) work brutally. As I’ve gone through phases with my portfolio page it has only gotten better over time, I learn so many new things, and the end product always gives you a good feeling, even if it’s only for a day or so because someone comes right back and says…

(I’m just joking no hard feelings)

Just enjoy the process and you’ll get to a point were most everyone will start saying “It looks great”, and “your amazing!” (But not completely everyone cause there’s always a hater here and there)

If you need help with anything don’t be afraid to ask and when you finish your page tag me I want to see it.

Good luck!

Thanks man, I definitely will tag you! lol, I know @Ascii was blunt but I really appreciate what he said because it came from, like he said, and HR viewpoint. Those are the people that we’re gunna have to get past in order to actually talk to the interviewers sometimes, and its important to not just get shuffled through. I criticize my work a lot, but I definitely get a little chip on my shoulder when I hear too much criticism, so I feel you. Just remember its ~all love~

I’m currently on Traversy Media’s YouTube and watching his 2019 web dev videos. Today, I think I’m gunna gather a lot of notes and ideas for my project. I might even have to go back to my previous ones just to make sure they look professional! I was looking online at the outlook for web dev and it says that it isn’t growing (according to 2016 though), but I don’t think that’s true. I just think its really competitive to get a job because people/companies need a lot for their projects. But all that knowledge takes time learning and mastering, which is still where we’re at. Don’t give up! You got this :+1:

Keep in mind that his comments were meant to help you, no one else. This says a lot about your attitude to be honest, you should be open to critics, especially when it is you who’s asking for feedback.

Did you really think that your first portfolio would be the one? This is a long process, it takes time and hard work and especially feedback from people, if you want to improve that is.

I apologize if you are truly joking with your comments but it doesn’t seem like that to me, you come off as a bit bitter.

@pleeseno Lol I agree with you and I give a lot of respect to @Ascii for taking the time to look at my page, and give me crucial feedback.

I think writing a list for your project is a very good practice, because instead of aimlessly programming you know what you want, how you want, it, and can cut the project into sections so you don’t get discouraged looking at the finish line.

I typically draw out a rough draft of my project’s layout like a blueprint for where I want stuff to be and notes about features and design, and then write a list of different tasks I have to accomplish that sometimes carry out into the next update that I do weeks~months later. Thanks for your encouragement!

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You’ve received a lot of great advice about your portfolio, so something I wanted to touch on that you mentioned in your initial post is the job search itself. If you are sending in your application / resume and waiting to hear back…I can tell you, that can be a huge part of the problem.

Oftentimes, by the time a job ad is posted, or by the time you see it…the position is either already filled or they already know who they want to hire, but are posting it for reasons(could be anything, legal stuff, company policy, what have you). Even if the job is available, you can assume you are one of tons of applicants, so you need a way to stand out from all the people who apply and wait.

The best way to stand out is personal referral…If someone from the company can bring your name up as someone to take a look at, your resume jumps to the top of the pile. Get involved in your local tech community and meet people who may pass your name along or give you a heads up about jobs. Something I do if I find a job listing I like is to research the company on linkedIn, find a dev who works there, let them know I just applied for xyz position and curious to know about the company culture, what its like to work there, etc. Not only have I met some incredibly awesome people this way, many have taken it on themselves to get my name to the person who is looking at applications, some have even talked to the hiring manager who said theyd like me to call or email them.

This is advice someone gave me, and it worked… as soon as I started reaching out, signs of life started to emerge and I finally started getting call backs and interviews. Take away here is.if you stand out as someone to take a look at, they will. The hiring process sucks, so any type of referral, or anything that shows the candidate is motivated is a huge load off of having to go through every application they get and makes life easier for the hiring manager. Which is also why appying to jobs online is like tossing it into a black hole…assume no one is actually going to look at it unless they have a reason to. Give them a reason to :slight_smile:

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@Gilbert1391 I can understand why you might not believe that i’m joking since it’s hard to understand someone’s emotions or expression to a certain situation by text.

But please DO NOT mistake my light sarcasm as being offended or bitter.

Out of everyone I think @Ascii has helped me the most and fully respect his opinion, but for the sake of those who might interpret my joking to be saltiness I will keep it to a minimum. Also if you check my previous posts i’m quite used to criticism and take it very well in my opinion even when I don’t ask for it. This is also the reason I take the time to reply to every post whether great or small because I appreciate it.

So just that everyone’s aware my joking is just meant to be taken as friendly jest not as Bitterness, I hope you can understand.

I do wonder about this strategy. Do people really check their linkedin account that often? I know I don’t, I could spend up to 2 days w/o checking it out and honestly the only reason I’m active is because I’m looking for a job. If I had job I don’t think I’d be checking my account that much. I don’t spend time on social media.

The reason I say all this it’s because I have tried contacting people on Linkedin who work at a company I’d like to apply, sometimes they accept the request but don’t say anything back. It fees like if they are not very active on Linkedin. But now that I think about it, it could also be that I’m perhaps being to direct?, not sure.

Do you introduce yourself when you send the request?, if so, how does your introductory message looks like? Asking about the company does seem more genuine I guess.

@Myles2, don’t worry, it’s all good. You are right about that it’s hard understanding sarcasm on the internet, that’s why I apologized in advanced if I had misinterpreted your comment.

@cndragn Thank you for your advice, I haven’t been to that many real-life tech events but I will probably check more into that. I think mostly now because i’m focused more on studying than applying for jobs I’ve kind of just tossed my resume out there to see what might happen but I think your advice will come in handy when I start actively applying

Also I do have a LinkedIn account if we could connect that’d be great!.

@Gilbert1391 No problem I just want to be clear if what I say is foggy at times.
Also for LinkedIn before my search of Web Dev jobs I didn’t even have one and I don’t have any social media accounts so I could have done without this one but one thing I think it could be useful for is the fact that you can establish an online presence of yourself and for the people who do use LinkedIn to hire people at least I have one. lol

Absolutely people check linkedIn very often…just about everyone I come across tells me to send them a request on LinkedIn.

Its really not common that someone lands a job, then stays or plans to stay there forever…it actually looks better on your resume if you have experience on different teams and with different companies working with new and various technologies because it means youre always learning new things and your skills arent getting stale from doing the same thing for years. Also, getting a raise / promotion often means moving on to another company with a higher starting salary. So…even when someone has a job, they are still keeping an eye out for opportunities to advance.

The other thing is, being in tech kinda lends itself to continuous networking…you are always meeting and coming across someone you can learn from…hence why meetups and tech conferences are such a big deal. No one ever reaches a point where they have no use for the tech community or keeping up with whats happening around them. LinkedIn is a great way to centralize and maintain those connections.

The other thing that Im running into more and more lately…recruiters and hiring managers looking to fill jobs search LinkedIn for people theyd be interested in. I keep my LinkedIn up to date, and I also stay active on there, responding to posts in my feed and reacting to articles and such…if you are not active then yeah, you are not going to get a lot of random messages or profile views because people can tell you are not on there.

When I send a request, I just say something like hi, I just applied for the xyz position at your company…was doing some research to find out more about them and would really appreciate any info or advice… Im really curious about what its like to work there and the company culture. Something like that…I tend to check out the profiles of a few people who work there and reach out to someone who I share connections with or we have something in common, or if they just seem nice. I would never flat out ask someone to refer me…they dont know me. I really would like to know more about a company Im applying to, that is genuine. Its up to them if they get a good vibe and decide to pass my name along. Its super rare someone doesnt reply…the majority of them do.

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Whoops, I put my linkedIn on the wrong post lol Here it is (anyone can add me though, just lemme know youre from FCC!)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/candicedavidson/

And yeah, def focus on one thing at a time…though if you do toss your resume out there, just shoot a message on LinkedIn too…even if youre not ready for the job, you just may come across someone who works at a place that interests you, who would be able to give you some great advice. I find people in tech to be pretty awesome cause they know what its like to be where you are. :slight_smile:

@cndragn Makes sense. :grinning:
Thanks again for the feedback!

@borispov @Ascii @ChrisCline1138 @vaidotasp @Gilbert1391 @pleeseno @cndragn

I have updated my portfolio page taking everyone’s feedback into consideration if you would like to see my final result.

(Of course not completely there will always be improvements but at least for this go around.)

Please click the link at the top :arrow_up:

Thank you again Everyone have a good day!

WOW! This is such an improvement since the previous one!! So much smoother and cohesive. Your transitions are really nice, I esp like the ones over the cert and projects (I was thinking of adding that to my projects too!)

One thing I noticed is when I resized the screen, the projects get cut off on the right side a bit. I haven’t looked at this on my phone, so it may be ok on the device, but idk if employers will shrink the page to check for responsiveness so it may be good to look into.

Other than that, I’d may add a Contact header at your contact footer just so people see that. I mainly say this bc you have a Contact tab in your navbar and when it goes down to the contact area, there’s no “direction” to your contact platforms…if that makes sense?

Also, I feel that in your About Me section, you could maybe make the opaque white box into a opaque black box so it stands out against the lighter image you chose for the background. Also, make your resume an actual button! With all your styling, I’m sure you could style up that button.

Nice, solid improvements! :+1:

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@pleeseno Thank you your suggestions, they are very helpful. The responsive of the project section is very finicky I have some css cases that are suppose to handle different sizes but there are still some very specific sizes where it will get weird so I will look into that. Thank you again for helping me out! :smiley:

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No problem man, can’t wait to see more. I have a question for you though: I’m on the same project and was wondering how you got your thumbnails of your projects? Do you print screen your page and save it to your computer? I don’t think in codepen it allows you to source images from your computer, so I might need to figure out how to add them to my code…